


Science Boyfriends Drabble collection

by 51PegasiB



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-04-27
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-09 15:57:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 6,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/776038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/51PegasiB/pseuds/51PegasiB
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Various short science boyfriend pieces - mostly very fluffy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hopelessly

**Author's Note:**

> This is a collection of short works I wrote to prompts from folks on tumblr. If you'd like to leave me a prompt, yourself feel free to come hit me up over there (I'm 51Pegasi-B - you can leave me any ship or scenario and I'll take whichever ones grab me and I'll give them my best shot.) 
> 
> These works are not really part of a story arc, but I tried to put them in an order that makes sense.

Tony realized he was really, deeply, truly in love when he came into his lab in the early afternoon. He had been up most of the night and caught a few hours of shut-eye before getting up, again, getting caffeinated, and intending to get back to work.

He stared at the few short words left in Bruce’s untidy scrawl, taped to the edge of one of the giant screens.

“Tony,

I couldn’t stay. It’s not safe, even in Candyland. You’ll be better off without me there.

-B”

He stared at those few sentences and realized that he really wouldn't be better off. In no way, shape, or form was he anything short of heartbroken. He needed to find Bruce, like, right fucking now and either kiss him or kill him.

Well, Bruce was probably unkillable, which is good, because Tony emphatically didn't want him dead, but he was furious at Bruce leaving him like this.

“Jarvis. When did Doctor Banner leave?”

“At around 8 this morning, Sir.”

“Get me everything you can.”

It took months of tracing and tracking, careful data analysis and sleuthing work, but Tony finally tracked him down in Cambodia. Satellite pictures confirmed and pinpointed Bruce’s location and Tony flew there, himself, in the suit.

He set down outside the hut just before sunset. Tony took off the helmet and approached the ramshackle structure. He knocked gently at the door frame.

Feet shuffle behind the curtain that served as a door, and it’s pushed aside. Bruce’s eyes went wide. He stepped straight up to Tony and kissed him.

Tony was swept up in the kiss. He was careful to keep his armored arms gentle as he wrapped them around Bruce.

The doctor was crying then.

“I’m so glad to see you. I love you.”

“What? Then why did you leave?”

“I…was afraid. Bad things happen to the people I love and…I wasn’t sure…”

“I love you. I wasn’t sure, then, either, but it’s been a long time since I had any doubt on the point at all. Will you come home?”

Bruce nodded. The sun was setting. They spent a surprisingly decadent hour in the hut before Tony called for a car to take them to the airport.


	2. Needed

For the first time in his life, Tony was around someone who needed him as much as he needed them.

Well, strictly speaking, that wasn’t true. Plenty of people needed him for his money or for his engineering chops.

Bruce just needed Tony for Tony. It was almost disconcerting.

He hadn’t talked the man into sharing his lab, so he had Jarvis keep an eye out for him. Tony was startled the first time the AI broke into his thoughts with the warning: “Sir, Doctor Banner has not eaten in twelve hours.”

“He what? You were supposed to order him lunch!”

“I did, sir, and I called him to the kitchen, but he seemed distracted and didn’t respond. As I have no particular instructions about what to do with that eventuality, I thought I would alert you, since you did ask me to keep watch.”

Tony swore and strode out of his lab, tossing work gloves aside and perching his goggles on his head like they were designer sunglasses.

“Bruce, Bruce. You’re killing me, here. You interrupted my flow,” he said, striding into Bruce’s lab with the same authority he’d had striding out of his own.

“Wha…? Tony? What are you talking about? You just came and interrupted *me*.”

“Jarvis ordered you lunch,” said Tony, looking at the curly-haired man pointedly.

“He did?”

“Yes, he told you so.”

“He did?”

Tony sighed. He wondered if any of this was what it had been like for Pepper to live with him, then shook his head.

“Yes, Bruce, he did. Come on, big man, as long as I’ve interrupted you already, let’s go eat.”

He held out his hand to Bruce and wiggled his fingers impatiently. The touseled scientist inched over and took his hand and Tony hauled him off down the hall.

“How did you know I hadn’t eaten?”

“My spies are everywhere. I want you to take care of yourself.”

“You don’t” Bruce pointed out, shortly.

That brought Tony up short, he pulled Bruce to face him in the hallway outside the kitchen and brushed hair out of his face with a gentle hand.

“Yeah,” said Tony, as he resumed heading for the kitchen, “but I care about you more.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by elvensorceress.


	3. Hurt

Tony carried Bruce back to the tower. He hadn’t even hulked out during the battle. He protested that he could go back in the jet with everyone else. Honestly, it had just been a little thing. He had jumped out of the back of a truck at the wrong angle and landed just a little funny and: bam. Sprained ankle.

Tony had insisted on flying him back.

He placed him on the sofa and brought over an ottoman to prop up Bruce’s foot before he even took the helmet off.

Once he had, he didn’t move to get the rest of his armor off.

“Okay, Doc. What else do you need? Tell me. I will get it.”

“I don’t need anything, Tony,” said the bemused scientist. “I’ll be fine. It’ll just take a little time.”

“Come on, asprin? Anything?”

“If you’re going to insist, I could use an ice pack and some ibuprofen.”

Tony bustled to get these things, coming back from other parts of the tower with a bag of ice wrapped in a towel and grappling with the tiny ibuprofen bottle with the gauntlets of the suit before he gave up and just handed it over.

“Tony, you can take the suit off. I’ll really be okay.”

“Are you sure, I…”

Bruce cut him off. “For the seven minutes it’ll take for you to get out of the suit? Absolutely.”

He waited on the sofa, leaning forward to place the bag of ice on his ankle.

Tony came back out a few minutes later.

“Did you take some pills?” he asked.

“Nope,” Bruce replied. “I can’t dry-swallow these, they’re too big.”

“Oh, god! I didn’t even get you water,” Tony smacked his forehead and went to rectify that, bringing a large glass back to Bruce.

“Tony, it’s just a sprained ankle. I’ll be fine in a few days.”

Tony sat down heavily next to him and collapsed forward so he was doubled over, hugging his own knees.

“I just didn’t think you could get hurt,” he mumbled. “I thought the hulk would always take care of it.”

“Well, this time, I don’t need the hulk. I’ve got you,” Bruce quietly replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by ihaveanarmy-wehavemarkruffalo on tumblr.


	4. Oops

Tony burst into Bruce’s lab in a flurry of motion that bespoke panic, and then stopped abruptly when he saw Bruce bent over the centrifuge and attempted to look casual.

“So!” the engineer said, brightly.

“Yes?” asked Bruce, caution in his voice.

“So, remember that thing you were talking about last night? Where this thing between us is pretty new and you don’t want to have to figure things out in the public eye? And you like me, but you’re not sure you like that public version of me and…all that?”

Bruce looked up and adjusted his glasses. He put down all the pieces of glass he was working with, and, after a second’s consideration, also stepped away from the counter top with the equipment on it.

“Vividly,” he said, and crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked at Tony’s feet.

“Well, I…there may be a way to look at what I’m going to say as bad news, and like I really screwed up, which I did, but I didn’t mean to screw up, and I was only defending you, and I think I should get points for all of those things. Points which will be redeemable for valuable prizes such as you not being mad at me.”

Bruce sighed. Tony was babbling.

“Tony?” he said, exhaustion creeping into his voice already.

“Well, let’s put it this way. You don’t have to worry about what coming out will be like. That’s a positive, right?”

“You told people?”

“Yes.”

“About us?”

“Pretty much?”

“In public?”

“At a press conference.”

Tony looked afraid, and then concerned, as Bruce’s shoulders started to shake, till he realized they were shaking with laughter.

“Yeah. I thought something like that might happen,” he said.

“But you asked me not to tell!” the engineer shot back, accusatorially.

Bruce shrugged. “I thought it was worth a shot,” he replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by fujo on tumblr.


	5. Clean

Tony had gotten everything else looking perfect (or at least shoved things into the closet where they would not be immediately obvious to the eye), but when it came to making the bed he was stymied.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t done it before. Well, strictly speaking, it was at least partially that he hadn’t done it before. He’d always had people to do it for him, but Bruce had been making fun of him. There were insults bandied about about him being soft and privileged and all the allusions he could make to counter it were about a cave in Afghanistan.

“So...you can cook and clean for yourself if forced by a terror organization?" 

"Actually, I really didn't..."

"You didn't cook or clean for yourself even there? Oh, Tony, You wouldn’t make it three days in Kolkata,” he kept saying, and shaking his head. "Not where I was living."

And okay, so he could only cook omelets and they weren’t that good, but Bruce had NO RIGHT, and anyway, Tony had to prove him wrong.

That’s how he had gotten himself into this mess.

The problem was the equipment. If this were his garage, he’d just build new equipment, but he was not qualified to build new sheets. Or weave them? He should look into how sheets were made, because this one was clearly inadequate.

The engineer saw the principle that was involved. Rectangular cubic surface: covering with four corners, but every time he got at least two corners on the bed and tried to do a third one, one of the ones he had already gotten on would pop off.

It was driving him crazy and he was running out of time.

He tried it again, yanking and stretching, but to no avail, the sheet didn’t seem to fit any better. He swore, only to hear gentle laughter at the door.

“Did you do all this?” asked Bruce, indicating the straightened room.

“Uh…yes!” said Tony, a little defensively. “But I’m not done. I…I didn’t finish in time. This sheet is defective.”

He balled it up, angrily and made as though to toss it away.

Bruce strode over to him and put his hand on Tony’s preventing the gesture.

“Do you need help?”

“No!”

“I think you do.”

“I really don’t. Genius, remember?”

“I see the misplaced variable in your equation, and I will tell you where it is if you admit that you need help.”

Tony stared him in the eye defiantly for a long beat. Then he sighed and surrendered. “I need help,” he said.

“What you have there is one of the sheets for the guest bed. It’s a completely different sized mattress. The sheets for this bed are in here,” Bruce opened up the closet, where he spotted the pile of stuff Tony had shoved in there, shot a look over his shoulder and started laughing helplessly. 

“Thank god you have a staff, Tony.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by ask-science-boyfriends on tumblr.


	6. Coffee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is significantly expanded from the version that appeared on tumblr.

Tony never much thought about what he dumped on the floor of the lab.

There were always robots, and people, too, when Pepper managed to talk some into staying, for a while, to clean up after him. And hell, if he tripped and fell, or stepped on a screw, he was only hurting himself. And if he broke something he was working on, he made it again only better.

The entire thing was just the circle of life, as far as he was concerned.

That was before Bruce started sharing the lab with him.

Bruce was more careful than he was. Bruce put things away. Tony found his resignation to the Sisyphean endearing. “We have people for that!”

“Not this week, we don’t.”

“Dummy and You can do it,” the engineer protested.

“They’re too busy following you around making you coffee and smoothies and trying to keep you from accidentally killing yourself to look after me, too,” he said.

“I don’t mind doing it,” added Bruce. “I always have.”

Tony decided it was one of Bruce’s many loveable quirks.

That is, until the day he left all the metal piping on the floor. He was working on something *very important* with a metal substructure. There had definitely been welding. He couldn’t quite remember what it was, as he hadn’t slept in 30 hours, but he was sure Jarvis did. He was running around the edge of the thing he had built to grab a new cup of coffee, when, suddenly, on the way back, his foot caught on some spare pipe. He went down pretty hard, the coffee flew through the air in a perfect parabola and crashed into the good doctor’s shoulder with force, shattering and spilling boiling hot coffee all over him.

Tony looked up in alarm as a ripping sound gave way to a roar and the hulk was suddenly sharing lab space. He scrambled backwards into a corner, adrenaline spilling into his system as he watched the green skin break through fabric all over Bruce's body. He hadn't had the time to even get up and run. He was staring helplessly from the corner he'd backed into at the Hulk wearing the shreds of Bruce's clothing. “Sorry! Sorry big guy! Please, don’t smash tha…”

Hulk smashed what Bruce had been working on.

“Jarvis, lockdown. Code: Tony was an idiot.”

“Right away, Sir.”

“Wait, that’s a real code?”

“I took the liberty of adding something to my protocols that will serve in this case,” the AI responded, as the Hulk smashed Bruce’s lab bench. “I didn’t call it that, but I’m adaptable.”

"Is there any part of the Idiot Protocol that can get a suit in here before Hulk smashes my head or accidentally steps on me or something?"

"It didn't, but I'm working on that," came the smooth reply. 

"Work a little faster there, please?" The hulk was lumbering through the lab, breaking things whether he intended to or not. He roared and Tony clapped his hands over his ears. "Hey, big guy. Would you mind not shouting like that?"

Hulk blinked and looked at Tony. He came closer with a few powerful steps. Tony tried not to flinch. "Hurt!" he roared. 

"I know. I'm sorry. My coffee spilled and you got burned. I'm so sorry, buddy."

"Sorry?"

"It means I didn't mean for you to get hurt and I didn't want to get hurt and I feel very badly that it happened and I want to make it up to you."

This seemed to give the Hulk pause. He sat down heavily on a ten-thousand dollar piece of equipment and bent it only slightly. "No mean to hurt?" he asked in a quieter voice.

"That's right. I didn't mean to. I tripped." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Thor and Steve looking worried outside the glass door. He fervently hoped that they wouldn't choose this moment to rush in and attempt to subdue the big green guy.

"Fell?" Hulk asked. He leaned forward with an absurdly muscular arm and extended a finger to poke at Tony. 

"What are you doing?" Tony couldn't quite keep all the alarm out of his voice.

"Fell! Hurt?" 

"I hurt you. I said I'm sorry. You know, you've already made Banner better. He'll be fine. You're fine." Tony's blood was racing. 

"Not Hulk hurt. Fell!"

Oh. Tony's eyes widened. He took a deep breath and tried to calm down. He realized Hulk was talking about him...asking about him. "Oh, me? Naw, I'm okay. I just feel bad for hurting you."

"Okay," said Hulk and scrubbed Tony's head with a couple of fingers in what probably counted as a fond and gentle way, since it only made his teeth rattle. 

The big guy was losing green around the edges and shrinking down. Soon Banner was collapsing onto the floor where the Hulk had been. "Oh god," he said. "Did I hurt you? Did I hurt anybody?"

"Only thoroughly replaceable equipment," said Tony. 

Steve and Thor rushed in. "What happened?" asked Thor, his voice sounding positively delicate when compared to Hulk's.

"Lab accident, but everything's okay, as you can see," said Tony.

Steve's eyes narrowed. "Jarvis said something about a spilled cup of coffee?"

Tony tried not to look sheepish. "Yeah. Well, it was an accident...that happened in the lab. Look, guys thanks for coming out but really, everything is okay."

Thor was helping Bruce up. "Shall I bring you a fresh pair of trousers, Banner?" 

"That'd be extremely kind, but maybe I should go to the pants. I'm exhausted and I've got a feeling we won't be getting a whole lot more done, today," said Bruce, quietly, looking around the smashed lab.

Thor helped him out. Steve stayed with Tony, a stern look in his eye. Tony looked up at him and rolled his eyes. "What is it, Cap?"

"You have to be more careful."

"I had the situation under control. Everything is fine. It wasn't even scary."

"Horse shit. Then why are you still sitting on the floor?"

Tony's bravado collapsed. "I'm not sure I can stand up."

"I know. Come on. I'm going to help you and later, we're going to have a talk about this. You're not up to it now."

Steve helped Tony up on his wobbly legs and took him to the kitchen and fed him a sandwich. 

"Thanks for saving the lecture," said Tony. 

"Don't think that means it's not coming." Steve made sure he finished the sandwich and then delivered him to his own bedroom where Bruce was already sound asleep.

\---

A week later, the lab was pretty much fixed. He was still waiting for one or two pieces of equipment, but there was plenty in there to get work done. When he walked in, he saw a package sitting in front of his main computer terminal, wrapped ostentatiously in paper covered in red, white and blue stars. He approached it warily, then unwrapped it. Inside was a note. It read:

_Turns out they make these. I'm guessing you already knew that, so that makes you kind of an idiot._

Under the note was a metal travel mug with a screw-on plastic lid. Tony pulled it out. It had a motif that echoed the design of Steve's shield all around it. There was another note underneath. It read:

_Lecture over._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by teawithturtle on tumblr.


	7. Fort

Bruce came home from a longish day in the lab. His research on the potential of gamma treatments for advanced cancers had hit a major snag and he was frustrated and tired, so when he opened the door and just saw a sea of blankets and pillows before him with a couple of blanket-draped towers rising from the interior, he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“Tony? Are you in there? Please don’t tell me one of the bots did this by themselves. What is all this?”

A blanket slid aside at the top of one of the blanket towers and a familiar, goateed face emerged from behind it.

“Bruce! You’re home! Look what I did, today!”

“Tony where did you even get all this stuff? I had no idea we had so many blankets.”

“We didn’t. I had to go shopping.”

“What is structurally supporting that tower?”

“Well, about a month ago, I ordered this framework designed for building blanket structures off the internet. It came yesterday.”

“I see. And that holds your weight?” Bruce asked.

“Oh, hell no. It sucked. I improved their design and manufactured this framework out of stainless steel and titanium.”

“Of…course you did,” Bruce sighed and shook his head.

“It’s totally modular. Any framework you want for blankets and we can make that happen.”

“What if I just wanted to veg out in front of the TV?”

“Come in and see!” Tony said.

“How am I meant to do that?”

“The entrance I used is over there,” Tony pointed downwards to one of the corners. Indeed, there seemed to be some sort of opening, there. Bruce crawled inside and found, once he was in, that he could almost walk normally, though his head brushed against the blankets and he had to watch out for the bars that made up Tony’s support system.

“Marco?” Bruce called out.

“Polo!” came the responding voice. Bruce made for it and was soon climbing up the ladder into the tower. A hammock was slung there and it contained one very smug engineer. “Bruce! You made it!”

Bruce shook his head.

“Well, this looks cozy,” he said, levering himself into the hammock, “But what about the TV?”

“Jarvis! Do the TV projection thing we talked about,” said Tony to the air, and then to Bruce: “Just look up at the ceiling."

Bruce obeyed and was soon looking at a projection of The Muppet Movie. He chuckled and relaxed. “This is pretty amazing.”

“Of course it is. I built it,” Tony replied.

“You are never going to let me take this down, are you?”

“Not unless we’re building something else out of the parts. Where would I put all the blankets?”

Bruce snorted and then they both grew silent, cuddling together in the hammock watching a small green frog play the banjo and sing about his wildest dreams.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by ask-science-boyfriends on tumblr.


	8. Ice cream

“You know what I could go for?”

“About a million and change at auction?” replied Tony, coming up behind Bruce and slapping him on the bum.

Bruce rolled his eyes.

“I was going to say ice cream.”

“Oh, cheap date,” the engineer replied, leering.

“Tony,” Bruce said in reprimanding tones.

The man leaned in and gave him a kiss, his goatee brushing against his skin. Bruce was getting used to that, still, but he liked it. “Well, can we go?”

Tony looked at him in surprise. “Go? We have ice cream here, don’t we?”

“Not really,” Bruce replied. “Thor was over last night, remember? And Steve taught him about root beer floats and then you taught him about milkshakes.”

“Oh, right!” Tony replied, smacking his own forehead. “Maybe I shouldn’t have put so much tequila in mine.”

“Well, I wouldn’t have,” said Bruce, frowning a little at Tony’s excesses.

“So, you want to go out and get ice cream.”

“I really would like to, yes.”

“It’s two am.”

“Yes, but you always say…” Bruce began.

“And it’s snowing.”

“…that I can have what I want when I want it, as long as I actually have the balls to ask.”

“I can’t believe you said that.”

“I was quoting you,” Bruce said, pointedly. “Word for word, in fact.”

“All right, come on, get your coat. Let’s walk to that place.”

“The place where they’ll add the stuff in?”

“Yeah, that place.”

“I think it’s closed,” said Bruce.

“It won’t be by the time we get there,” the engineer replied. “Jarvis!”

“On it, Sir. Bundle up.”

They made it there and back in about half an hour, coming back eating heaping waffle cones. Tony’s lips almost froze, but Bruce was grinning, so it had definitely been worth it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by snowboardinganteater on tumblr.


	9. Surprise

The fighting had fallen off. The team had knocked out the central control system for the robots and they had gotten a lot easier to pick off without the hive-mind controlling them. Some kept running into walls, some were spinning circles in the street. It made Tony almost sad to see it.

Frankly, if he were going to flip to the mad side of science, he’d do a much better job than this.

Clint was on a rooftop picking off stragglers, Thor was whistling and smashing the helpless bots with his hammer. Tony flew around the perimeter of the battle site, trying to make sure none of the formerly killer bots was making a run for it.

Suddenly, Steve’s voice sounded alarmed over the comms.

“Has anyone seen Banner?”

“You lost Banner? Dammit, Steve, I was STILL USING him.”

“Everyone knows, Stark,” Natasha’s cool voice broke in. “Now shut up about it.”

“Hawkeye, can you confirm that Banner de-hulked?”

“Sorry, Cap, my attention was otherwise occupied. Haven’t seen Jade Jaws in a while, though.”

“I shall seek him. There is no sport in what little of the battle remains,” Thor declared. He spun his hammer rapidly and took off.

Tony had cleared the perimeter and was spiraling in, dealing with each of the bots he saw that was still moving. Hopefully he could grab one before SHIELD finished their clean up. He’d take it home, take it apart, get to know what this guy did wrong and try to make one better.

You know. For science.

He tried to concentrate on doing all that, instead of worrying about what had happened to Bruce.

Thor’s voice came over the comms, again. “I have located our green friend. He was dismantling a barn some miles from here. He doesn’t seem inclined to stop. Perhaps the Man of Iron could be of some assistance?”

“On my way,” said Tony, relief flooding over him as he had Jarvis locate Thor and sped towards his location.

When Hulk saw the suit flying in he roared in anger, and tried to wave the man off.

“NO!” the Hulk roared. “Go away!”

“I thought you liked me, big guy.” Tony said as he landed…not too close.

“GO AWAY!” the Hulk insisted. “Surprise!”

“You’re surprised?”

“Surprise for tin man,” the green guy sounded defeated.

“You’re making a surprise for me?”

Hulk sat down, hanging his head.

“Get tin for tin man. Make more armor. Armor always hurt.”

Hulk reached out a hand to brush as gently as he ever did over a scorch mark on one arm of Tony’s suit.

“Armor gets hurt so I don’t, big guy. That’s what the armor is for.”

“Hulk knows. Hulk get more tin for make armor.”

Tony looked up at the roof of the barn. It was, indeed, a tin roof. He kind of hoped the barn didn’t actually belong to anyone, because there wasn’t much left of it. Fortunately, it seemed to have been empty of any animals, at least.

“Ah…it isn’t actually…” Tony was at a loss to explain the concept of a titanium-gold alloy to the Hulk. He quickly gave up. “Thank you. I’m sorry I ruined the surprise. I still really appreciate it, though.”

He laid a gauntleted hand on the large green arm and soon the arm was getting smaller until Bruce collapsed to his knees in the dirt in front of the wreckage of the barn.

“Where the hell are we?” Bruce asked, leaning back and looking around.

“Somewhere in Kentucky, I think.” Tony flipped up his face plate, now that Bruce was himself, again.

“Weren’t we headed for Cincinnati?”

“You took a detour.”

“Did some of the robots escape?”

“No they were pretty well dealt with,” said Tony. “I think…honestly…remember how you badgered me about how we were going to celebrate my birthday?”

Bruce looked up at him, suspicion in his eyes. “…Yes…”

“I think the big guy remembered that. He was…uh…he was getting me a present.”

“What?”

“Yeah. He was collecting the roof of the barn so I could make more armor.”

Bruce raised his eyebrows and started giggling. He collapsed backwards into the dirt as the giggles became chortles, and the chortles guffaws.

“You know he’s going to expect to see you in that armor.”

Tony laughed. “I’d better go find out whose barn this is and buy it off them. They’re going to need a new one, anyway.”

Bruce was howling. “You’re not seriously going to…” he gasped out between helpless spouts of laughter, “armor?”

Tony frowned at this effrontery. “I’ll make something out of it. You watch.”

Bruce’s fit of laughter finally seemed to be subsiding. “Oh, I know you will. Care to give me a lift back to the jet?”

“It’ll probably be healthier if I have them bring the jet to you.”

“Please don’t leave me here, pants-less, with the half-demolished outbuilding. I promise I won’t laugh any more.” Bruce looked almost alarmed.

“Sure you won’t. Not even imagining me in rusty tin armor.”

Bruce clapped a hand over his mouth as his shoulders began to shake. His shoulders shook and he bit his own hand before the laughter peeled forth again. Tony couldn’t say the good doctor hadn’t tried. He shook his head, flipped down the front of his helmet and called the rest of the team for pick-up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From a prompt by lokis-nonexistent-shampoo on tumblr.


	10. Just Relax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony comes back from a conference frustrated and stressed. Bruce helps him out by giving him a massage.

Tony had returned from the conference in a *mood*.

Bruce watched him huff and sigh his way around the tower all afternoon. He seemed to be looking at excuses to yell at people, and after he blew up at Steve for the crime of being earnest and upstanding and in front of the cupboard Tony needed to get into that second, people were mostly avoiding him.

Bruce, for his part, saw the blow-up and just retreated to his room. He didn’t like it when the tower reminded him of home.

An hour later, Tony came and knocked on his door. He knew it was Tony before he opened it because of the impatient staccato knock. He opened the door, anyway.

"Okay, so like, on a scale of zero to ten how much of an asshole was I being earlier?" His voice was jovial, but the need for reassurance was painted all over his face.

"Do you really want the answer to that?" Bruce asked, softly, as he stood aside to let Tony in.

Tony groaned. “I’m sorry. Conferences used to be fun, back when I could actually drink, chase tail and carouse through the whole thing."

"Why didn’t you do that, this time?"

Tony sighed and didn’t answer for a long time. He leaned an arm up against the wall and looked at the floor, then shot a glance up at Bruce. When he spoke he sounded so tired, all trace of joviality gone. “I think my life is complicated enough without provoking any more international incidents, don’t you?"

Bruce gave a tight grin. “Not up to me." He and Tony hadn’t really talked about whatever was going on between them. He knew Tony still had something going on with Pepper, too. Bruce figured she must know about this. Tony was an adult, and he wasn’t really good at playing things close to the vest.

"You want some help dealing with it?"

"With what?"

"The way you’re feeling."

Tony looked dubious. “You’re not going to make me meditate for three hours or anything, are you?"

"Nah. I think that would lower your blood pressure at the cost of raising mine." He shot a more genuine grin in Tony’s direction.

Tony snorted. “Seems like a bad trade."

"Yeah."

"Well, what are we doing, then?"

"Strip down, and get on the bed." Bruce started rolling up his sleeves, then began to fish in one of the drawers of the over-sized dresser.

"I officially like where this is going," said Tony. He was grinning like his usual self, and complied with alacrity.

"It’s not going where you think, but you’ll still like it, I promise. Face down, please."

"Oh! That’s fine too. I’m game for anything."

Bruce laughed. “We’re not having sex."

"Oh." The word dripped disappointment.

"Just relax." Bruce found the massage oil he’d been looking for and came over to the bed with it.

Tony stared at him then nodded and laid down on his front, as requested. “Just promise me you’re not going to play Enya at me."

"Hey, Jarvis, do you have any nature sounds?" asked Bruce.

"Rainforest, woodland brook, ocean waves…" the A.I. listed.

"The ocean one, please."

The room filled with the sound of waves and the occasional seagull’s cry.

Bruce started in on Tony’s back. The man groaned obscenely. “Bruce. That’s…unnngghhh…"

"Hush. Just relax. Try not to think." His hands kept working, applying targeted pressure to the muscles around Tony’s shoulder blades and working downwards.

"You don’t know what you’re asking." Tony protested.

"Yes. I do." Bruce said, calmly, and kept working.

"Okay. Maybe. If anyone does, you d…unnnngh. Yes. That spot."

Bruce worked the spot in question for a while longer before moving on.

By the time he’d worked his way down Tony’s back and back up it, the man had fallen asleep.

Bruce crept out and figured there was no better way to signal the all-clear than making dinner for the team. Besides, Tony probably hadn’t eaten, either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written to a prompt from BruceBanner_CantHave_NiceThings


	11. The Paper Napkin Seduction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bruce tries to seduce Tony and winds up being mostly adorable.

Tony was in the workshop, as he usually was of an evening when he had nothing better to do. And really, what was better than the pure rush of invention. Physically and mentally challenging and engaging and spiritually fulfilling.

It was definitely just about the total package as vocations went.

Plus, sometimes he got to blow stuff up.

Usually people just stayed out of his way unless invited in, except for Pepper. Bruce had been a recent exception to that rule, so Tony wasn’t so surprised when he came in.

"Hey," he said. “I brought you food."

"Oh, great," said Tony, not taking his eyes off the wire-frame model in front of him. “Can you just leave it on the desk?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Tony noticed Bruce’s physicality change. The man slumped his shoulders more, and seemed to withdraw into himself. Tony watched as he went to put the bag down on the desk. Not a bad view, considering Bruce was walking away, but he should wear tighter pants for the full effect. He didn’t realize he was really *staring* till Bruce spun around, abruptly. Tony whipped his eyes upward and looked the man in the face.

"Actually…I was thinking we could eat together," said Bruce. He was shuffling his feet and moving back and forth across the lab floor as he reached for what to say next.

"Okay. Sure. Sounds good," said Tony. He stepped back from the model. “Jarvis - can you run that version through the simulation? Might as well see if I got anywhere."

"Will do, Sir. It’ll take some time."

"No problem. Take your time. We can pick that up tomorrow." said Tony. At those words, Bruce seemed to relax. Huh.

Tony looked up at Bruce, again. “Okay, so. You want me? You got me. Need to talk about anything in particular, Doc?"

Bruce was fiddling with the third button on his shirt. The top two were always open, but unbuttoned the third, revealing even more chest hair than was usually visible. Tony watched that happen, then looked up at Bruce’s face, again. He was staring at Tony, still a little uncomfortable.

Tony walked over to him, giving his most theatrical grin. “Hey. Do you need to talk about something? I’m told I’m not the world’s best listener, but hey, for you…I’ll try anything once."

Tony brushed by Bruce and leaned against the corner of the desk, practically at the man’s hip. He was pushing him, again. He wasn’t sure what Bruce was up to and he figured pushing him was as good a way to find out as any.

Bruce was looking down at his hands…fooling with his shirt cuffs. “I uh…you mean that?"

"Sure."

Bruce swung around and pressed his lips to Tony’s. Ah. Now it makes sense. Tony was startled, but definitely not surprised. He tried to give as good as he got in the kissing department. When they broke apart, they were both panting, a little.

"You know, you didn’t have to go through all the trouble of romancing me with dinner. You could’ve just asked," Tony said.

Bruce looked down at the bag, then back up at Tony. He looked sheepish. “It’s not exactly…it’s meatball subs."

Tony laughed aloud. Bruce chuckled, wryly, too.

"Well, hey, you want to take them to the bedroom and make a mess of my sheets?"

Bruce stared at him, clearly feeling a little taken aback at this abrupt advancement of the action. "…With the sauce and crumbs, you mean?"

"No," said Tony. He grabbed the bag, and Bruce’s hand and dragged him off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written to a prompt from tumblr user intellectualboobies.


	12. Sick Tony is Twelve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets sick. Bruce takes care of him.

"Ugh. This is undignified!" Tony griped.

"I’d have to agree," said Bruce, coming at his mouth with the thermometer for the third time. “Tongue up, please."

"Stop laughing at me!"

"I was only smiling indulgently," Bruce insisted. His shoulders were quaking and he was hiding his mouth behind one hand.

"NOW you’re laughing." Tony groaned and thudded his head into the pillows.

"Stop talking and actually keep the thermometer in your mouth or we’re just going to be doing this all day, Tony."

"Well if we get finished with this…aauugh!" Tony squawked as Bruce grabbed his arm to wrap a blood pressure cuff around it. “Is that really necessary?"

"Well, maybe not," Bruce admitted. “But I have it and it’s here so I might as well check everything."

"Are you going to probe me rectally?" Tony asked and waggled his eyebrows. It probably would’ve been a lot more effective if he hadn’t then had a violent coughing fit and spit something entirely disgusting into a tissue.

"Really, no."

"Come on, pleaaase? *You* can’t get sick."

"Tony, you wouldn’t actually enjoy it right now, and that means I wouldn’t, either. Please. Keep your mouth shut for two whole minutes so I can take your temperature."

"But once you’re done with that, you’ll *leave* again."

"You need rest!"

"But I don’t want you to leave. I like it when you’re here."

"Seriously? Is this what this is all about? You’re bored?"

"Yes," said Tony, earnestly. “And lonely."

Bruce sighed, but he smiled while he did it. “You could’ve just said something instead of trying to prolong my medical ministrations."

"I could’ve?" Tony, rendered unguarded by the crappy way his brain was working while he was sick, sounded as surprised as he actually was.

"Sure. I’ve got work I can do in here. If you actually keep that thing in your mouth, I will go get my tablet so I can work."

"You will?"

"Yep, but if you take that out and try to pretend your fever is better when it isn’t, Jarvis will totally rat you out. Right, Jarvis?"

"Indeed, Doctor Banner."

Tony put the thermometer firmly under his tongue. Then he crossed his arms over his chest and rolled his eyes as if this were all too plebeian for the likes of Tony Stark, but once Bruce left, he smiled broadly. This caused the thermometer to fall out of his mouth, but he reset it and tucked it back in, again.

It beeped just as Bruce came back.

"I brought you some hot lemon ginger with honey and some chicken broth." Bruce set both mugs down on the bedside table and then wiped off the tablet he’d been using to carry the cups with his sleeve.

He pulled the thermometer out of Tony’s mouth and checked the temperature. “Actually better than last night! See? Sometimes it’s good news. What’s that face for?"

Tony was looking stern. “I’m not a kid. You’re like…bringing me things and…"

"Does that mean you don’t want the tea?"

Tony sighed. “No. I want the tea."

"All right."

"It feels nice on my throat," he admitted.

"That’s what it’s supposed to do." Bruce stretched out next to him on the bed, back propped against the wall and tablet in his lap.

"Will you read me a story?"

"I thought you weren’t a kid," said Bruce, his mouth quirking up at the corner.

"I’m bored like a kid."

"You’re bored like yourself."

"Nah…my brain’s not working well enough for that."

"Thank god. Look, I’ll read you a journal article, if you’ll drink your tea and your soup." Bruce helped him sit up and Tony picked up the cup with the broth. It really did actually taste pretty good.

"Hey, Bruce?"

"Yes?" Bruce asked, fingers dancing over the surface of the tablet, looking for the article he wanted.

"Thanks. For putting up with me."

"Believe it or not, it’s my pleasure, Tony."

Bruce had only read a few paragraphs before Tony was asleep. The next time he woke up, he had to promise Tony to watch cartoons with him before he would allow his temperature to be taken.

"Not a kid, my ass," Bruce muttered as he went to the kitchen for more tea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Written to a prompt from tumblr user ask_science_boyfriends.

**Author's Note:**

> From a prompt by dixie-chicken on tumblr.


End file.
